


Things Could Always Be Worse!

by musesmistress



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: F/M, Genii (Stargate), Memory Loss, Wraith
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2019-11-28 21:41:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18214001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musesmistress/pseuds/musesmistress
Summary: Elizabeth's week hadn't been the best, but the next few would be even worse.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for spelling/grammar mistakes, I have no beta - anyone interested please let me know, I don't write a lot these days.

Elizabeth’s eyes widen as she watches John move into place between her and the stairs. Behind her Kolya has an iron grip on her that’s starting to make one of her shoulders ache, but she ignores it to watching John, aware mostly that he has a gun pointing at her.

“You're not going anywhere,” John says, though she’s not sure if it's a promise to her or a warning for Kolya. Defiantly, Kolya takes a step backwards, close to the Stargate and her panic level hitches up a notch or two. Any second now she’s gonna feel that cool puddle of event horizon on her face and blink into the light of another world and chances are, John won’t be fast enough to follow. She sags in Kolya’s grasp, trying to make herself a dead weight but he still manages to drag her another step back towards the Gate. “I will shoot you if you don't let her go.”

“And risk hurting Doctor Weir?” He’s far too close to her, and the tone of his voice resonates through her head like a wave of horror. If any such thing is possible. John takes a step forwards and Elizabeth changes her look from a plea to a desperate glare for help as Kolya takes another step backwards, then another.

“I'm not aiming at her,” John says dangerously and she watches as he stiffens his arms and tightens his finger over the trigger. Kolya’s hand, still holding his gun, wraps around her and she feels the tug at almost the same instant she hears the gunshot from John.

The cool event horizon washes over her but the effect is dampened by a sharp pain in her shoulder that pushes the air out of her lungs. She lets out a cry as they fall back onto the floor and her body shudders with the pain of the impact. Hands grab at her and she screams out as they pull her off their leader and push her towards the corner of the room. It took a moment for her, pressed against the wall, to fight off the nausea that came with the ache. She turns, pivoting to avoid hitting the wall face on and watches as men swarm around Kolya. He hasn’t moved and for a moment there’s the hopeful thought that the John fired has killed him.

Kolya stirs for just a moment and she curses in her head before looking around the room. There are only a handful of people here and all of them have their attention on Kolya in one way or another.

She edged slowly towards the Stargate, stopping when she accidentally kicked something, she fixed her eyes on the crowd of me, taking them off only to check those standing around the edge of the room. No one noticed so she carried on, moving closer to the Stargate and around to the other side where the DHD sat. If she could make it, she could dial and then... what? They weren’t going to let her stroll through the gate just because she’d managed to make it to the DHD and dial without noticing and chances were, they’d noticed the gate.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and she jumped. “Just where do you think you’re going?” A rough voice said. She shuddered with the thought of why his voice sounded like gravel and sandpaper rubbing together.

“Home?” she said, trying to keep a happy tone and pretend that she wasn’t about to pee her pants from fright and the pain in her shoulder. She could still feel the blood seeping out through her shirt and down her chest.

“No way, you’re a prisoner of the Genii now,” he said. He forced her to turn around and pushed her back the way she’d come. It took a moment to notice the door, the dark shadows hid it and made the whole area look ominous and frightening. Then again, this was probably a prison facility so it wasn’t that much of a shock. He shoved her again and she staggered, before swaying slightly – her shoulder hurt with such unimaginable pain that she hadn’t even realised she was in. When he seized her good arm, she felt the wave of dizziness and the want to vomit wash over her and she managed to mumble something incoherent, even to her own ears, before she passed out.

\----

When Elizabeth woke, she was laying on the floor of a dimly lit prison cell, her back hurt with the awkward position they had dropped her in and her shoulder throbbed from its earlier injury. Curious, she lifted the edge of her shirt and looked in. Her wound had been cleaned and bandaged, but there was still a trail of dried blood that tracked down her white bra and part way down her stomach before spreading out over her sides. She couldn’t bring herself to be amazed that they hadn’t bothered to wipe the blood off her when they saw to her bullet wound. Chances were she had been treated by a man and at the moment it was hard enough keeping her mind off the possibility that he had fondled her in the process.

Carefully, and still somewhat lightheaded, Elizabeth got to her feet. The room she was in was small and dirty, with no furniture and no windows. On one side of the room, just above her head, was a grate, she moved over to the wall and leaned heavily against it.

“Hello?” It was a bad hope that there was someone on the other side. At present, she didn’t even know what was on the other side, trees, open field, the kitchen, a bathroom, or just another cell.

“Hello,” a voice came back and she creased her brow at his monotone and slightly alien voice. She didn’t know what to say now, she hadn’t really thought about it, the hello was just an instinct and now she was stuck.

“Are you a prisoner?” she asked, it was a pretty stupid question, was a guard gonna say no? The chances of getting information out of her this way were quite high and if it was just a hallway out there they could be laughing at her for the pathetic question.

“Yes,” it was all he said.

She turned, pressing her back to the wall and slid down to the ground. “How long have you been here?”

“I lost count long ago,” he said. It gave her the impression that he’d been forgotten by the Genii, that they had locked him there forever and a day ago and now she was just talking to his ghost. Or a figment of her imagination brought on by whatever pain killer they’d given her or from the pain itself.

“Oh,” she replied. The sense of helplessness was starting to set in and she wanted nothing more than to curl up and cry. She stiffened her back, an attempt to push the sensation aside and reminded herself that John wouldn’t let it end this easily, Rodney had been in the control room, he had to have seen the address before the gate shut down. They wouldn’t just leave her in the hands of the Genii – she’d be home before she knew it.

Silence settled in, she wanted to break, it wanted something to fill the slowly passing time until her rescue. But she couldn’t think of anything to say to the man in the next cell. She closed her eyes, keeping her back straight and tried to calm herself. The last thing she needed to do was panic, she wouldn’t survive this, whatever this was if she let the fear control her. This wouldn’t be the first time she’d been held hostage if she was honest, this wasn’t all that different to being held prisoner in her own city. Elizabeth opened her eyes as the gate opened and she watched the man step in and stop just inside the room.

“Up,” he demanded. Cooperation was the key to negotiation, she reminded herself as she climbed to her feet and moved out past him. They led her down the corridor and out into a room with nothing but a chair sitting in the middle of it. The guards strapped her down by the wrists and left. She looked around, straining her neck to see if there was any sort of listening device or anything in the room, but it was so dark, she couldn’t see anything. She didn’t even see Kolya was he stepped out of the shadows.

“Don’t look so disappointed, Doctor Weir,” he toned. She knew her face betrayed the fact that she’d wished him dead. “I’m not dead yet.”

“Shame,” she said with a smile. “Wouldn’t want to disappoint John, I bet he’d love to shoot you and watch you die.”

“As much as I’d like to do the same for him. But that’s not going to happen any time soon, I’m afraid.” Elizabeth quirked a brow. “You probably believe,” he said starting to circle her chair, “that he will be here shortly to retrieve you.”

“I would think so, the chance to see if he killed you will probably win over on him.”

“Then you will be disappointed to know that we are not on the same world we gated to.” He stopped in front of her to grin but it vanished quickly when she just looked at him with the same blank expression she’d had since sitting down. The door behind her opened again. “You will tell me what I want to know, Doctor Weir.”

“Really?” she said, a touch of sarcasm in her voice. “I doubt that.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Kolya said, indicating to the guard, they stepped forward and she had to struggle to keep her expression clear as she realised they had a Wraith. “My other prisoner here is very eager to be fed. He hasn’t had a meal in several days.” Kolya stepped forward and leaned in close. “Now, let’s start with something simple, tell me where Sheppard and his team are going next.”

“They won’t stick to their schedule while I’m here,” she said shortly. Kolya backhanded her sharply.

“Tell me your security code,” he demanded.

“Hmmm,” she faked thinking about it. “It starts with a nine, I’m sure of it.” Kolya backhanded her again she had to flex her jaw to alleviate the pain.

“How many people live on the mainland?”

“Two,” she said with confidence.

Kolya seized her by the shirt and pulled her forward. “You are trying my patience, Doctor Weir.”

“Oh, am I? I’m sorry.” She didn’t know what had come over her, perhaps the fact that he’d tried every standard method of intimidation and had tried to take over her city and take all their supplies. She was sick of him and wanted to do whatever rebellious thing she could to annoy him.

Kolya pushed off and a flutter of a signal was all the warning she had before the Wraith was there, in front of her with a hand pressed against her chest. She’d read the reports on the Wraith feeding process, heard the stories from Teyla and other Athosians, but none of those stories and reports would have prepared anyone for the sensation of actually being fed on. The pain of her skin being penetrated by the talons was nothing in comparison to the constant prickling of the node in the middle of his hand. 

\----

In addition, there was a pulling sensation against her heart that made her wish he’d get it over with and rip it out of her chest. The pain was immense and the feeling of both life and death running through her veins was confusing and frightening. She let out a scream before she’d even considered holding it back and squeezed her eyes shut to pray for a quick death.

Then the Wraith was pulled back.

“Where are Sheppard and his team going?” Kolya demanded.

“I told you,” she said, breathing through the lingering pain. “They won’t follow the schedule, they’ll focus on finding me.” He backhanded her.

“What is your security code?”

“Nine, something or other.” He backhanded her again.

“How many people live on the mainland?”

“Two,” she said, not holding back on the grin that made it to her face. Kolya moved away and the Wraith was there again and the pain right along with him.

\----

Elizabeth lost track of the number of days that past, she even lost track of days and nights altogether and had only barely clung to the fact that she was given two meals a day and questioned every other day. It hadn’t taken her long to realise that the Wraith who fed on her was the voice on the other side of the wall but after the first few days of sitting in silence, she’d started to ask him questions.

At first she’d been cynical, trying to goad him into telling her he hated what he was and how he fed off other people. But it didn’t work and she realised after a few days that all she’d really tried to do was tell herself her only company wasn’t a Wraith. After several days though, the conversations turned to the fact that they were trapped by horrible people, forced into a routine they didn’t understand and then it turned into ideas, mostly on her part, of getting out of there.

She hadn’t given up on the idea that John would save her, she still waited for that moment when she’d hear the gunfire, and see him turn at the door and peer in, trying to spot her in the dark dank room she’d been stuck in. She’d hug him, she’d hug the stuffing out of the first person with a friendly face if it meant leaving here and never seeing a Wraith again. Every time she pictured that moment, she’d picture the looks on their faces; how horrible she must look now – grey hair, wrinkles and dry skin, bony frame from lack of food. She hated what Kolya was doing to her.

It wasn’t until one morning when she woke to the sound of children that she realised just how much damage he was doing. There couldn’t be children there, in a prison? The thought made her think of the children she would never have, because she looked twice as old now as she should, sometimes, when she was brought back to the cell, or after their every few days of changing world, she felt that age and she’d cry silently for a while at the chances she’d missed. She sighed as the Wraith shifted in the cell behind her.

“Hard floor a little uncomfortable today?” She asked.

“Every day,” he hissed.

“I’ll run to the Stargate and go buy you a cushion,” she said with more sarcasm than she felt.

“If you knew where the Stargate was, I would take you up on that offer.”

“I do know where the Stargate is,” she said. “They thought I was unconscious when they moved us last time. Too stupid to give me the right drug, only gave me painkillers.”

The Wraith shifted and she heard him grip the bars on the wall above her head.

“I’m actually starting to wonder why these places always look the same.”

“You think we are on the same world?”

“Yeah, I think they just take us for a walk to make us think we’ve changed planet,” she got up, moving to stand on the small box and look through to the next cell. She couldn’t see the Wraith, but she could see one hand holding on to the bars.

“If I can get us free,” he said after a moment. “You can lead us to the gate.”

‘I could lead me to the gate,’ she thought, not sure if taking a Wraith to the gate would be in any way a wise idea. For a start, she could end up in a much worse situation than she was right now. Secondly, she didn’t have an IDC to get her back to Atlantis and she couldn’t remember any useful gate addresses either.

“You can get us out?” she asked. “Without them knowing? I doubt I could run that fast.”

The Wraith hissed. “They will not know we have gone for hours, days if they do not check when they deposit your food.”

She turned away, looking around at the bowl of goo the Genii had dropped off several hours ago. She could get them to the gate, and then what? He’d finish her and leave her body for the Genii? He’d take her with him and trap her for a later snack?

“What happens when we reach the gate?”

“You do not know?”

“That’s not what I mean. We get to the gate and you kill me or capture me?”

He hissed again but said nothing.

“How would you get back to your people?” he asked eventually.

“I don’t know yet, I have to try and remember a planet where they have contact with my people.”

“I must find a new queen,” he said. “By now, my last hive would have replaced me.”

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“We will travel to another world together, then each goes our own way.”

“Alright,” she said, taking a moment to consider the idea. “I’ll take you to the gate on a condition or two.” He hissed. “Whatever planet we go to, you won’t feed on anyone there, especially me.”

“Agreed,” she could hear the grin in his voice and knew he only had to go to another inhabited planet to get his meal. “Be ready.”

“How long do you need?” She didn’t want to sit ready for hours if he was going to take another day to get them out.

“Only as long as it takes them to patrol the cells.” He said.

Elizabeth sighed. “I’ll be ready,” she said. It could still take a few hours.

Thinking it would be wise to get her strength up, she stepped off her box and moved over to the food bowl and picked it up. It was never appetising and she knew she’d have to swallow every bite while attempting not to vomit, but she needed the strength eating would give her.

\----

Elizabeth couldn’t believe the position she was in. Trapped on a planet full of Genii with a Wraith for company. And worst of all, she was currently hiding in a very small alcove with the Wraith pressed against her front. She could smell everything about him and if she had to give it a label, she’d call it ‘Wraith’.

As the group of men rushed past their hiding place, Elizabeth took a deep breath, holding it for the time it took for them to move far enough away that the Wraith moved out of the cove. She let out the breath and quickly breathed in the fresh air before she followed him out and started running towards the gate.

“You realise,” she said, ducking a low branch and rushing around another tree. “The first place they’ll go and secure is the Stargate.”

“I will deal with them,” the Wraith said. She knew what he was planning before he had completed the sentence.

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

“You do not wish to leave this world?”

“That’s not what I said,” she offered. “I just wish we could do it without killing anyone.”

“Leaving them to live will give them the chance to find and capture us.”

He had a point, but she wasn’t about to admit it. She ducked around another tree and scurried up the hill towards the gate. The Wraith grabbed her and pressed her to the ground before she reached the top, she waited, watching as he slid up to the top of the ridge and looked out. He grinned in satisfaction.

“There are only 3 of them.”

She barely had a moment to take that in before he was gone, up over the top and down the other side. She could hear his footsteps, the shouts of the men at the gate and then gunfire. She wanted to look, wanted to watch him make it down there and kill them, but as the first man let out a scream she found the temptation to lift up had left her.

A boot at her side made her turn sharply and she found herself looking up at a clearly happy guard. Behind her the gate started to dial and she knew her time was getting slimmer and the Wraith would not come back for her – she had to be down there when he left, or she’d be stuck here. Grinning up at the guard, Elizabeth lifted a foot and kicked him sharply in the groin before she scrambled over, up to her feet and took the top of the ridge.

Halfway down, as the gate engaged, someone let out a gunshot and she saw the Wraith turn to look up the ridge behind her. His hand came up and she realised, almost too late that he had one of the guns. She dropped down, rolling down the rest of the hill as he fired the weapon. The man at the top let out a grunt and Elizabeth was starting to wonder if she should get up when the Wraith grabbed her arm, lifted her almost cleanly off the ground and shoved her towards the gate.

On the other side, Elizabeth expected the Wraith to dial another planet for them, the faster they changed worlds, the better their escape. But the horror she found herself in was almost as bad as the one she’d just left. Actually, if she was honest, it was worse. She let out a shocked scream as her Wraith friend yanked her behind a tree just as several darts flew over the top of them, she watched them pivot in the air and turn back.

Something in the back of her mind told her to run, she turned on that instinct but the Wraith had a firm hold of her arm and nothing she tried worked in freeing herself. She had been tricked and soon, she’d be a wraith’s meal.

“We go our own ways,” she said, trying hard to remind him of the promise they had made.

“I will get your home,” he hissed. She had a feeling it was a lie. “I will make sure you are unharmed.”

“You have no hive,” she reminded him. “You can’t keep that promise.” She turned to watch the approaching darts. “Let me go, please.”

He released her, but it was too late, she’d barely finished the last word when the dart flew over, their beams taking them from the tree line before she could consider which way to run.


	2. Chapter 2

The dull ache in her shoulder was the first thing that caught her attention. It was followed by the almost overwhelming scent of violets and the cool breeze across her back. It was strange, she had expected to wake up in a Wraith hive ship, where the only smell was what she’d picked up on her friend when they were escaping and the only breeze was from the Wraith walking past your alcove. She had to be imagining the rustling of leaves and the twitters of birds. He had tricked her and taken her with him. Or had he actually kept his word and this was somewhere that could help her get home.

When she finally opened her eyes, it was to look out over the field of violets towards the Stargate, some distance away. She was flat on her front, one arm down to her side and the other up over her head just touching a device that had been left with her. She pushed up, feeling the twinge of pain in her arm reverberate down her arm and back, and picked up the object. It was almost Ancient in design, but she didn’t believe for a second that it had originated that way. The Wraith wouldn’t be this clean or sleek with the design. Finding a button on the side, she switched it on to find a message waiting for her.

_“My new queen agreed to spare your life. You are now a runner – move from world to world until you find your people.”_

Underneath it was simple step by step instructions of the device, an aid for her, a list of gate addresses she could travel to. She didn’t recognise any of the ones listed on the first page. The device beeped in warning and she wondered just what it was warning her against. She pushed up, turning to look around for anything unusual and a moment too late spotted the Wraith in the trees behind her. He fired before she could move and everything went black.

When she woke again, she was instantly aware of the cut on her arm, a line drawn with a sharp blade across the top of left wrist. A counter. This time, she activated the device and quickly selected a random address from the list before getting to her feet and heading for the gate, before she managed to make it to the gate, the device beeped and she quickened her footsteps across the grass. She barely managed to finish dialling before she heard the dart and looked up as it swept overhead and deposited a Wraith a few feet away from her. His sneer reminded her of a friend she’d had in college, he’d grin at her as though he was angling for a prized possession. His hand came up and he fired before she could think and once again everything was black.

The pain of the second cut across her wrist woke her on the next world. Flat planes of sand and dust was all she could see for miles around and the vague wavy outline of the Stargate in the distance. She was starting to get the idea of this, if they caught her, they would mark her and drop her on another world further from the gate than before. Not wasting any time, she scrambled to her feet, adjusted her shoulder against the dull ache and started of jogging towards the gate. Or at least what she hoped was the gate. As she moved, she switched on the device and selected an address from several pages on, memorised it and then pocketed the palm reader. 

She knew pacing herself would be a good idea, but she had no clue how long she’d been unconscious and how far away from her chaser she’d be dropped, so she sped up, turning her jog into a run and made it to the gate in good time. She dialled quickly, slapping her hand against the centre button. As she stepped around the Dial Home Device, wishing she could actually dial home, she heard the muffled warning tone of the device. She ignored it and stepped up to the gate before turning around. She spotted the Wraith at least a mile away, she gave him a smile and wave before she stepped through the gate.

On the other side, a lucious beach planet she’d loved to have vacationed on, she stepped around the DHD and quickly dialled another random address. She did this three more times before she finally stopped for a rest. She needed to think this through, someone had explained the addresses to her at some point, how they worked and plotted the location of the planet. If she could remember what they’d said, she could use that information to her advantage and jump further away from the Wraith to give her more time to rest. Then again, just hopping from random planet to random planet constantly would keep them confused – hopefully.

Looking up at this world's sun, she realised she wouldn’t be able to keep ahead of them all the time, eventually she’d have to find food and somewhere to sleep. Not to mention if she wanted to find someone from her home, she’d have to be on a planet for a length of time in order to find out if they’d visited them before. She dropped the device on the ground and buried her face in her hands, her palms pressing in to her eyes until she could feel pain that countered what she felt on her shoulder and wrist.

Nothing seemed to make sense anymore, she released that she couldn’t remember who her people where, where she lived or anything about where they had visited before. Panic was slowly starting to settle in and she she had to take several breaths to forces her body to calm down before she could compose herself and stretch an arm around to pull her top down a little so she could take a look at her back – she couldn’t see what they’d done, it was a little too low, just below her shoulder and closer to her spine that it felt. After the last world she’d woken up on, she’d have to find water to clean the sand out of her cuts and hair before she started a slow switch between planets to stay ahead of the Wraith. With determination, she got up and dialled another planet and stepped through.

\----

John turned a harsh look on Rodney, the scientist has been babbling about something to do with gate addresses and dialling programs for the last twenty or so minutes and John hadn’t understood any of it. He didn’t care to either, he was hands down having the worst week of his life, and then some. First Kolya took over the city and took Elizabeth and Rodney hostage, then Kolya had decided it wasn’t enough to get the C4 and medical supplies, no!! The city was a much better prize even though they had no use, or even, want for it. Then the bastard had told John he had killed Elizabeth. If that wasn’t bad enough, when John had found out she was alive, he’d done everything he could to get her and Rodney free only to watch her fall back into the gate with the bastard. He’d fired a shot he was sure had hit it’s mark, but that little triumph wasn’t enough. Even if that shot had managed to kill Kolya, the Genii now had their expedition leader, and like hell was he taking charge.

Not to mention, he kinda liked her, as far as diplomats and commanders went, she was at least a little forgiving of his bad behaviour and a damn good tease.

“Rodney,” John growled. “How long?”

“Well, I don’t know, now, I’m not Mr Wizard or anything.” Rodney’s sarcasm made John a little more edgy. “Look, there’s thousands of addresses stored in this database and we’ve used at least a hundred of them since we got here. This program only tells me what worlds were dialled, not which one was dialled last.”

"Okay, but the longer they have Elizabeth, the harder it will be to get her back." He left off the word 'alive’ and walked away. He needed to occupy himself, before he hit something and he needed to get away from Rodney before he became the punching bag. The only problem he had, was that there was nothing in the city to do, half their team and all the Athosians were still off world waiting for the recall. Only eight people were actually here now, two of them were Athosian teenagers and one a prisoner left behind after Kolya left.

“Major Sheppard.” Teyla called as he turned down a corridor away from the control room, the two teens not far behind her.

“I’m sorry Teyla, I need Rodney to work on that gate address, as soon as he knows were Elizabeth was taken we can start recalling everyone else.”

“Major,” she said, placing a hand on his arm to stop him walking away. “It has been more than a week, Doctor McKay is no closer to finding Doctor Weir. We should recall the others and see if the other scientists can help.” She took a step closer to him, and lowered her voice as well as her tone. “We will not give up on finding her, but we cannot leave the rest of the expedition and my people on another world while we do so. We can use their help.”

John sighed. “Go talk to McKay, start recalling our people,” he said bluntly then turned and walked away as she gave her thanks.

\----

The cool water made the cuts on her wrist and back burn, though she had to wonder if that was more the sand and grit in the cuts or the heat of the planet she was on. The coolness of the water was extremely tempting though and as she dribbled the water off a strip of cloth down her back she pictured herself taking off the rest of her clothes and diving in. She dipped her hands in again, leaving them to cool in the pool before pulling back, straightening her back and just as she reached her hand up to her shoulder she heard the snap of a twig.

She froze, the Wraith device was sat on her white shirt in arms reach and it hadn’t beeped a warning. Elizabeth chided herself for focusing on that as the muzzle of a gun came into view, she was on her knees by a pool of water in nothing but brown hide skin pants and bra, somehow a failed alarm was the least of her worries.

“I used to have one of those,” a male voice said, his gun twitching to indicate the Wraith device. “Never seen a woman as a runner before, how long have you been doing this?”

“Only a few days,” she offered, relaxing her arm til it was resting in her lap. “How long have they had you?”

“Six years,” he said.

Elizabeth’s brow went up, six years doing this, she was exhausted after four days. Daringly she turned and looked up at him, his huge frame was backed by the world's sun so she couldn’t see his face, but she could make out his muscles and that told her everything.

“Don’t suppose there’s somewhere to hide?” she asked.

“They can track you everywhere,” he said. “How long have you been on this planet?”

“Only a couple of hours,” she said. “Long enough to find water.”

“You know how long it takes them to find you?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head and reaching for her top. “I don’t stick around long enough to test it.”

“I used to do that, stay one step ahead of them. Then I killed the Wraith that had my gun.” Elizabeth pulled her top on with a slight groan of pain in her shoulder. “It’s the tracker,” he patted his shoulder to show what he mean and almost instantly the device beeped it’s warning.

Elizabeth got up a little too quick, the pain in her shoulder and the speed of moving making her sway a little. The stranger took her arm, grabbed the device and dragged her towards the trees. Her back pressed against a tree, they looked around for the location of the Wraith.

“Can you run?” He whispered

“Not very fast,” she replied, equally as low. “I’m not trained in anything.”

Before she could wonder if he’d reply, he started shooting at something from the other side of the tree. He gave a small triumphant grunt as he hit and took a step to the side.

“Behind you,” she said quickly and he rounded and fired on the Wraith before it could fire at them.

“Thanks,” he said and moved away. Elizabeth let out a breath and turned to follow him. “Where you from?” he asked as he started pulling things off the Wraith. She opened her mouth ready to answer and stopped, her brow creased she watched as he pulled another object off the Wraith and turned back to her.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I can’t remember.”

He took a step forward. “What about your name? You know that, right?”

She thought for a minute before honestly shaking her head. She hadn’t thought about where her people were or how to get back to them, she’d been focused on staying one step ahead of the Wraith.

“Okay,” he said. “Well, you remind me of a friend I had when I was younger, so I’m gonna call you Naya until you work it out.”

She nodded, it was all she could do.

\----

"Where?" John asked, taking the last step up into the control room. Teyla had told him over the comm that there was a Wraith ship heading their way and from her tone of voice and Rodney's doom-saying in the background he could guess they were close by.

"They will be here within the hour," she said. "But it is not a hive ship."

"What is it?"

"I have never seen anything this small," she replied cryptically.

"It's like a pod," Chuck offered from his seat at the dialling console, his screen showing information on the object.

"And we know it's Wraith because..."

"Same energy signature as the hives and darts," Radek said. "It moves much faster too, but that could have something to do with its size," he trailed off as John glared at him.

"Wonder what it's coming for." John mused allowed.

"Maybe to see if we're really here," Radek suggested.

"We can't afford to let them have that Intel," John said, then paused, thinking what Elizabeth would do in this situation and wished quietly that she was. "Chuck, find me a couple of Jumper pilots. We're gonna investigate and possibly destroy that thing." He turned, gave a nod to Teyla to show she should go with him and started up the stairs to the Jumper bay.

Half an hour later John pulled his cloaked Jumper up alongside the beacon, there was no other word for it, it was too small to be a pod and it was shaped in a way that made John think of a probe. Teyla shook her head beside him, showing that she had never seen such a device.

"Sir," Stackhouse's voice came over the radio. "It's transmitting a message."

"A message?" John said, more to himself. The Jumper responded anyway and John heard the end of the message in a deep Wraith hiss.

"... location was..." it cut off with an extended tone. John's brow creased in the few seconds of silence before it started again. "Elizabeth Weir is alive, captured by my Wraith sect and sent out as a runner. Her last location was..." it cut off with the same tone and John instantly started looking for a way to save the message, the Jumper one step ahead of him.

"What's a runner?" John asked.

"I do not know," Teyla replied with a shake of her head. John sighed, unsure if he should be happy to find Elizabeth alive or worried about what 'runner' could mean.

\---

She sat on the rock inside the tree line near the gate, she could see both it and her hiding place, but she had no idea where Ronon had gone. He had said he wouldn't go far, but hadn't told her where he was going and she didn't know him well enough yet to ask. She sighed, turning her mind back to figuring out who she was and how she had got here. She remembered a wraith, she remembered that they had a deal but the details were sketchy at best.

She had feelings, more sensations than anything, that she knew people who could help them. She hoped it was true, this situation was a nightmare and she wanted it to end, and soon. Ronon had been a runner for six years and that thought scared the life out of her, she was pretty sure she wouldn't last that long. He had taught her that marking her skin was only a training tool, when they reached twenty marks they would hunt to capture for torture or kill, and she didn't want to find out which.

A hand on her neck made her jump and she heard Ronon laugh low before he brushed her hair to the side and tugged her shirt down at the back. Something cold was applied to the cut where her implant was and she instantly felt the sting ease.

"After a week you'd think the pain would be gone by now," she said.

"It's the tools they use, they make sure it hurts longer."

"That's nice of them," She said with a touch of sarcasm. Ronon gave a small chuckle.

Silence slipped in and she closed her eyes against the sun and the feel of his fingers still working the cream into her back. It was a moment before she realised he had moved off target and was massaging the cream in at the top of her spine. She turned a little to look at him and caught the look of lust on his face before he moved away. It frightened her a little, they had only met a few days ago and he had gone too many years as a runner with no company at all, let alone female company.

Ronon cleared his throat. "Here," he said, holding out a small bag. "Put some on your arm." She took it and opened her mouth to say something, but the second the bag was out of his hand he was gone.

\----

After Rodney spent hours decoding the tone in the wraith message, John gathered up three teams of officers to go check out the location. He wasn't going to take any chances, a wraith sent the message to them, they knew where they were. The only reason John was going in the first place was that they knew Elizabeth's name. They were barely aware of their presents in this galaxy, no one had told them they were in Atlantis, though he knew they could easily guess, and not one wraith had been told about or met Elizabeth weir.

With his gun poised, John stepped through the gate a step ahead of Teyla and the others, he stepped out into the quiet of a forest and took in a breath of fresh pine. There was no sign of anyone on the planet, at least no sign that anyone guarded the gate.

"Alright, let's check the area, make sure we haven't walked into a trap." he turned to look back at the gate and caught a flicker of movement. Thinking a local was watching, John move slowly around the gate and into the tree line. He stopped a few minutes in and looked around, no sign of anyone. He was starting to think he had imagined it when someone spoke.

"She was here three days ago." John spun, gun raised and found himself facing a single Wraith. The Wraith grinned.

"Hi, nice to meet you, how are you? I'm fine thanks, how about you? Peachy. Guess the Wraith don't need manners."

"We have no need for niceties, most of the humans we deal with are usually screaming for their lives," he gave a grin that told John he wasn't dealing with your average no sense of humour Wraith.

John smiled. "Where is she now?"

"As I said, she was here three days ago, she met with another, experienced runner. He has been keeping her two steps ahead of us and out of our trackers range. It is only a matter of time before they need a longer rest."

"What’s a runner?" John asked, taking his finger off the trigger, but keeping his gun poised.

"A training tool. They are tracked and set free to roam the galaxy, our young chase them, earn praise for catching them and learn the tricks humans use to avoid being fed on.” John felt his temper rise and quickly squashed it. “For the two weeks she has been a runner, she has only been caught twice.” John found himself shocked and impressed that Elizabeth had managed to out run the wraith. 

"How do we find her?" John asked, if she was keeping two steps ahead of the wraith then he needed to be in step with her or half a step behind.

The wraith held out a device. "It tracks the runner signals," he explained. "She is the only one who has joined with another."

John carefully reached out and took the object. "Thanks. Out of curiosity, why are you helping us?"

"I made a deal with her, she kept her part, this is mine." He took two steps back into the trees and vanished just as the radio came alive.

"Major, what's your position?"

"Heading back to the gate, everyone meet me there," John replied. He didn't have Elizabeth, but he had the next best thing. He just didn't want to take it back to Atlantis.


	3. Chapter 3

Her calves were burning, they had been for about half an hour now and her chest stung from the effort, she just had to keep reminding herself that the pain would help in the long run. In a year's time she'd be able to run this long without pain and she'd be able to do it without needing Ronon keeping pace behind her. This world's inhabitants, it seemed weren't Ronon friendly, Naya wished he had told her about the possibility of that before they walked the hour to the village.

She reached the DHD listening to the angry shouts and the stunner fire from Ronon's gun, it hadn't taken her long to learn the difference in sound between stun and kill. He only used kill if it was a wraith chasing them.

Endurance and stamina where just a few of the things he was teaching her and as she mouthed the sounds of the glyphs as she dialled the gate she realised it was a long list of things she needed to know.

"Faster," he called as she slapped her hand on the centre button and the gate came to life. She took off again, running the distance between DHD and gate and jumped in with him at her side.

The quiet on the other side was welcome, as was the warmer climate and soft ground. She wanted nothing more than to sit down and drink a pond of water, but she had already made the mistake of sitting down after that much exercise and knew all too well the pain she would be in.

Instead she moved away from the gate and towards the trees, her eyes trying to be as vigilant as Ronon had taught her to be. She’d managed it just fine the last two worlds, aware of the local inhabitants that were guarding the gate. Her eyes settled on a broken twig and a spray of leaves that littered the pathway away from the gate, someone had been there and they’d left in a hurry.

“Ronon,” she said, turning to look over her shoulder at him. “Something's not right,” she said. It was quickly becoming more of a feeling than the clues she could see. A scratch on the tree to Ronon’s left was added and she turned fully around to look at similar tracks behind him of someone leaving the area quickly.

“Someone got scared.”

“Three people,” she said, pointing to the path behind him, the one behind her and then over towards the gate where, just on the other side, she could see another path and someone laying just off to the side of it. He didn’t move and she wasn’t deluded enough to think he’d just been injured - something had spooked the guards and killed one of them.

Ronon moved around the gate, leaving her where she stood, and crouched down to examine the body. She stiffened when he did, a distant rumble and crackling reaching her ears. Ronon stood back with his gun in hand, she hadn’t noticed him pulling it out, but then again she rarely did. Him and his knives were also a mystery, even after him helping her find hiding places for her own weapons.

She slipped a knife out of a holder on her hip, it wouldn’t do a lot to protect her from the Wraith, but it would buy her time for Ronon to kill him. She’d tried that once, after all, and it had ended badly.

“We should help them,” she said, knowing the argument that would follow. As runners, they were better off avoiding all Wraith, not just the ones on their tail. To voluntarily go into a culling zone was literally asking to be caught. But Elizabeth couldn’t do it, she couldn’t walk away when people needed to be helped and she knew they could do it - Chances were, Ronon could help more of them than anyone she knew - assuming she could remember who she knew.

She turned, not giving him the chance to reply to her statement and heading towards the scream that echoed through the night. She heard Ronon sigh behind her, he was always frustrated with her, she had agreed to learn to fight, but had refused to kill. She’d agreed to carry weapons, but her choices on when to use them were more towards getting food than towards protecting herself. There was something else that frustrated him and she suspected he had spent too long alone and now her company was starting to grate on his nerves; especially when she did things like this.

The closer they got to the village, the louder the culling became and specific noises began to come clear through the air. The sounds of darts “Twelve,” Ronon counted, she wondered how he could do that, but then again, she was afraid to know too. People screaming, children crying and the swish of what sounded to Elizabeth like a large number of arrows moving very quickly. They wouldn’t take down a dart that way. Elizabeth stopped just inside the treeline to the village, she could see the destruction that had taken place. Houses were still on fire and dead bodies littered the ground.

“Naya,” Ronon said, turning her attention to him and ultimately to the group of people huddled in the darkness a few feet away. Several of the children in the group were watching them while their parents and other adults keep keen eyes on the darts floating around their village. Elizabeth turned back as one dart collided with a tree, seemingly unable to control itself from the folly of darts flying at it.

Ronon moved, walking with purpose out of the protective treeline and across the opening to the village. He’d been watching the dart they were firing at seemed to have come up with an idea - he vanished around a corner and she watched as the line of flying arrows changed from random target on the new ship to firing at something specific.

A second dart, further away twisted around and headed for the first and as Elizabeth was about to move, she saw gun fire - obviously from Ronon’s gun - appear from over the flames of a build and strike it’s target. The dart seemed to wobble slightly before colliding with the other and both came crashing down towards her. She was up quickly and running towards the villager in the trees, they had moved just as she did and headed away and Elizabeth watched as one woman stopped and turned to look for someone. She spotted the toddler then, running on unstable feet back out towards the village, Elizabeth turned sharply before the woman could see her boy and ran as fast as she could towards him. She managed to scope him up and get out of the way of the falling darts with bare seconds. Panting, and wishing she’d had more rest lately, she made her way back to the trees and handed over the child to a very grateful mother as Ronon appeared and grabbed her arm.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he growled.

“I could ask you the same thing,” she shot back. He had always stopped her from getting in harm's way, but was always quick to put himself there. She turned and walked away from him as silence fell over the village. The Wraith had given up on culling and in the distance she could hear men shouting out in joy.

“Naya,” Ronon called and for the first time since she’d met him, the name sounded completely wrong. “I told you not to put yourself in danger.”

“That was two worlds ago,” she said. “And that rule doesn’t apply when a child needs saving.”

“Should always apply,” he muttered as she approached one of the darts. “Do you want to get caught?” She turned and glared at him. “Naya, these darts didn’t come through the gate. There’s a ship in orbit, it won’t take them long to figure out there are two runners on the surface.”

Naya ignored him and climbed up on to the wing of the dart and looked at the cover over the cockpit. She had no idea how to open it and if the Wraith inside was still alive she’d be dead if she managed it. She turned back and spotted two of the men from the village watching her.

“Don’t touch these,” she said to the woman, still clutching her toddler. “Put the fires out, kill the Wraith if they emerge, but don’t move or destroy these. I have friends who can get your people out.” She watched Ronon’s eyebrow quirk as her Wraith warning went off.

“We have to go or these people will be their next meal,” Ronon said, grabbing her waist and lifting her easily off the dart and dropping her almost haphazardly to the ground. She barely nodded at him before she took off at a run for the gate.

\---

Stepping through the gate into a torrential rain storm was never something Ronon liked. The only time he could really appreciate a storm like this was to cool himself down from the previous, overheated planet. This planet, however, was still hot and the storm was created from the sticky heat that had built up in the air. A flash of light overhead made him look up in time to see a second flash fork across the dark clouds. The growling thunder followed a second later, starting low and distant and quickly growing until it literally shook the ground below his feet.

“This way,” he shouted as the roar faded and he turned to beckon Elizabeth along. Sure she was following, he led her through the trees, ducking from one to another attempting to keep her just a little dryer, not that there was a point now, and making his way to a set of caves he knew only too well.

A year or so into running, he’d found these caves on this planet and discovered, more by accident than planning, that they shielded the tracker in his back from the Wraith. It wasn’t a complete cover, enough to give them a minimum of four days to rest. He’d seen Elizabeth struggle in the last village, and she’s stumbled a couple of times on the way to the gate, she needed to rest and if he was honest with himself, so did he.

In the shelter of the cave, he could start a fire to dry them off, cook food and they could sleep for two days if they wanted to. The storm crackled in the air and he felt the hairs on his neck stand up as the lightning flashed across his vision. An electrical storm was bonus points for them, it would give them another day if it lasted out. He turned into the cave sharply and she stared at him in shock for a moment before following him in.

“I didn’t see that entrance until you moved through it.”

Ronon grinned. “We’ll be safe here for a few days,” he said, moving to the back of the cave and grabbing the twigs and dry leaves he’d left behind on his last visit.

“Days?” she asked.

“Yeah, about four of them.” She watched him with a quirked brow as he set up the fire in the ring of stones. He knew the question she wanted to ask and bit his lip for a moment before answering it anyway. “We can’t come here too often, if they figure out a better way to track us through this rock, we’ll lose a good hiding place.”

She nodded and sat down to untie her boots. He watched her as she poured water out of her boot and dropped it heavily to the side of the rock. She was soaked to the skin and he knew she couldn’t sit in those clothes and wait to dry off. If she stayed as she was, she’d become ill and that was far from a good way to be on the run. He scanned about, looking for something she could cover herself with and remembered that he’d hidden a blanket here last time he’d visited.

Finding the loose stone, he pulled out the blanked and tossed it in her direction. “If you sit in wet clothes, you’ll get ill.”

“So will you,” she pointed out.

“I’m used to this,” he said, turning back to the fire pit. “You’re not.” There was silence for a while before he heard her clothes rustle as she undressed. He had to squeeze his eye closed at the thought of her naked in the same area as him. It had been a long time since he’d touched a woman.

There was a moment of silence before she sat down next to him and stared at the pit. He had been distracted, trying to control himself and hadn’t thought to actually start the fire. He busied himself with it and then turned to her, she’d only roughly pulled the blanket around her and he could see her from feet to thigh and cleavage up, a small gap in the middle gave him a view of just enough of her stomach to let him know his training had been worth it.

“What?” she asked, making him jump.

“Nothing,” he tried, turning away quickly grabbing his satuel. He needed to find food and something he could hang her wet clothes on.

“You were staring,” she countered and he knew she’d looked down and closed the gap in the blanket at her stomach.

“Sorry,” he murmured and moved towards the mouth of the cave.

“Ronon,” she tried, and he stopped for a moment.

“I’ll find food,” he said without turning back and then vanished out into the storm.

\----

Elizabeth paced for a while after Ronon left, her feet slipping on the ground occasionally as they dried. She couldn’t understand him sometimes. He would look at her as though she was crazy, as though she was someone who shouldn’t be a runner, though she agreed with that completely, and sometimes she’d felt self-conscious that he thought her useless as a survivor. She had spent a lot of time in the beginning wondering why he let her stay with him, the whole damsel in distress bit didn’t really suit his personality. Other times, when she was lucky enough to catch him, he would stare at her as though she was the most beautiful thing on the planet. She’d seen that look on him just now, then he’d fled.

Sighing in frustration she’d dropped down by the fire and pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped the blanket around them and not for the first time wondered just why it was she stayed with him. She hadn’t been afraid of him when he’d found her by a lake, he’d just helped her. He’d named her Naya after a friend, even though she’d only known him for a short time. More than once she’d thought about that, and how he had managed to live all these years with no contact. He’d avoid villages and settlements were possible and just grab food from fruit trees and animals, bathe in lakes and pools and leave before the Wraith could attack. So why did he need her company now?

A flash of lightning pulled her from her thoughts for a moment and she watched a second streak of light flicker across the sky outside before the thunder rolled the ground below her a little. She turned back to the fire as the rain picked up and studied the way it had been built, in comparison to other fires he’d made and she’s stared down, this one was small and haphazardly put together. It didn’t take a genius to realise why, he’d been distracted. Listening to the sounds she’d made as she took her clothes off. Her heart rate sped up as she realised just why he’d been staring, just why he kept her with him and above all, why he was so intent on protecting her and making sure she could fight for herself. He wanted her. It was so easy to see.

With a jump she realised Ronon was standing a few steps away from her and she turned a stunned face to him. He let something slip off his shoulder and she followed it to the ground before she managed to take in the shape of a dead deer. She waited quietly as he dragged it to one side and then started to tie the ends of a vine so he could drop her clothes over it. She got up and moved before he’d finished, knowing his next move would be to skin the animal and that wasn’t something she wanted to see or remember and she wanted to make a move, it needed to be now.

She stepped into the shadows of the cave, making sure she would be seen just enough and then let the blank fall to the ground around her feet. She had to swallow hard and build her courage before she licked her lips and quietly said his name. She kept her eyes fixed on him as he turned to face her, watching his expression. The lifted eyebrow he turned to her dropped and she watched his eyes as they flicked down her naked body and back to her face. He swallowed, but it seemed difficult and uncomfortable and she knew from the stiffness of his posture that his breathing had picked up and his body had responded to her.

“What are you doing?” he asked, his voice gruffer than normal and slightly higher in pitch.

“Letting you know the option is available.”

“Naya...” he started, but his throat caught and he let his eyes drop down to her chest.

“Who was she?” she asked, taking a step forward. Ronon’s eyes came back to her face. “Naya?”

“My first love,” he said. “Brown curls, green eyes and a strong will to do what’s right. I went through to our world's elite forces because of her, then she left me for some governors son.”

“Did you give me her name out of hate?”

“I gave it because it fit, you look like her and one day, you’ll go back to your people and I’ll still be out here.”

“You think that’s what I’ll do? Just leave you?” She could see in his eyes he wanted her to say it was a joke. “If we find my people, they can remove these tracking devices and it’ll be you, leave me to go home,” she said, taking another step and putting herself in reach of him.

“What if I don’t want to go home?”

She licked her lips and took another step into his space. “Then you can stay with me as long as you want.”

“And if you people object?” he asked moving a step towards her.

“Then this cave will be more than just shelter for a few days,” she teased as his hands slipped onto her waste and he pulled her close and kissed her.

He let out a growl as he pulled her closer, letting his hands drift over hers hips to her buttocks. She could feel his erection against her stomach and wondered how painful it was for him after six years of running from the Wraith. He lifted her easily off the ground and she slipped her legs around him as he turned and, breaking the kiss so he could move around the fire, guided her into another corner of the cave. He set her down on the rock and she let out a hiss at the cold surface and jumped down.

He turned back, grabbed the blanket and lay it over the rock before lifting her back up on to it. His jacket, shirt and pants hit the floor quickly and she gave him a smirk of encouragement before he moved back into her space and nipped sharply at the skin on her neck. It didn’t take him long to work his way down, suckling on her nipples and teasing at her navel. She let him move her knees, opening her to him and settled back on the rock to enjoy his tongue through her lips.

Ronon pulled back as she shuddered, his impatience and need getting the better of him and he gripped her thigh as he guided himself into her. Despite the fact that he pushed in slowly and carefully, she could see the strain of the act on his face, it had been too long for him and he wanted to take his release and he wanted it now. She didn’t rush him though, and as he finally settled all the way in, he dropped his face to her shoulder and nipped at her shoulder blade.

She waited, her body relaxed, the feel of him stretching her muscles was just painful enough to stop her coming but not so painful to take away the pleasure, she knew as soon as he started moving, it wouldn’t last long for either of them.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he breathed, nipping a little too hard at her shoulder and soothing it with his tongue.

She snaked an arm around his neck, tucking her fingers under his locks and grazed her fingers along the back of his shoulders and neck. She felt him shudder from head to toe before she whispered. “You won’t.” She repeated the move, drawing another deep shudder before he thrust against her and then pulled back to start moving.

As she predicted, it only took a few strokes before he came and she was quick to drop a hand between them and rub at her clit to bring on her own orgasm. As she came back down, she was aware of his hands holding her tight and his soft breath on her neck, the flex of his fingers the only sign he was still awake, or conscious, considering the power of his orgasm.

“It’ll get easier,” she whispered. He nodded and slowly drew himself away from her.

“I was actually thinking of another problem,” he said, slipping out of her and pulling the blanket back up over her shoulders. “Running from the Wraith can’t be easy if you’re with child.”

For a moment that thought scared her, but she smiled. “We’ll manage. Either that or we better start looking for my people before we figure out it’s happened.”

He grunted what must have been a laugh and turned to find his clothes.


	4. Chapter 4

“They were here,” Ford said stopping a pace away from John. “Told the villagers that they need to save the Darts until she came back. Apparently she thought she could get their people out.”

“Not her,” John said. “Us,” he moved away from the tree he was leaning against and headed over to Rodney who was examining the dart just inside the village. “Rodney, I want you to stay here and try to get these people out of the dart.”

“What? You’re leaving me here alone?”

“Don’t be stupid, Rodney, Ford and Stackhouse will keep you company and Abrams can stay for a list of things and team members and then head back to Atlantis.”

“Wait, where are you going?”

“Ashford found someone who saw the address Elizabeth went to next and as they’ve disappeared off the radar, we need to follow every lead. Check in regularly,” he said as he turned away and followed his team back to the gate. Leaving Abrams, Stackhouse and Ford with their instructions and walking back to the village, John turned to Ashford to dial the gate and followed his team through.

Stepping through the gate from one world to another always amazed John. One minute you could be in a tropical rain storm, the next on the cool controlled Atlantis, or walk out of a snow storm into a heat wave, which was close enough to what he just did. The cool of the last planet was a stark contrast to the heat and dry air of the current. The wet leaves, dripping water in the nearby forest was a giveaway that it had recently rained, but there was no sign it hadn’t cleared the humidity, and if it had, John didn’t want to know what it was like her under normal circumstances.

“Okay,” he said, pulling the water bottle from the pack over his shoulder.

“Two faint life signs to the west, sir,” Parker said.

“Alrighty,” John said, looking around. “Which way is west on this world?”

Parker’s arm came up and pointed to the left. “I thought everyone went with the gate to their back, facing forward is North.”

“I better teach McKay that before ‘that way’ becomes an official direction,” John said, turning and heading in the direction indicated.

He could see the flickering light of a fire in the cave as they approached, several of the men moving around to the other side of the entrance. He prayed this guy with Elizabeth wasn’t going to put up a fight, but chances were he was protecting her and just walking in would likely get him shot. He indicated for the others to stay put and turned his head to look inside the cave, what he saw instead made his heart thud in his chest. The business end of a gun was set perfectly between his eyes.

“I heard you coming half an hour ago,” the man said. John straightened. “Only reason you’re still alive, is her,” he cocked his head back over his shoulder, “telling me to wait and see who you were.”

“Lucky us,” John said, stepping around to the entrance of the cave. He could see Elizabeth standing on the other side of the fire, a knife in her hand, just hidden slightly behind her wrist. “Okay,” John said, aware the three men around him had their guns trained on the man. “How about my guys go first and put their guns down, and you follow. We’re not here to hurt anyone, we just want Elizabeth back.”

“Elizabeth?” Ronon repeated, a touch of confusion on his face. John simply pointed back into the cave. “That’s her name?”

“Yeah,” John said, indicating to the others to lower their weapons. “Doctor Elizabeth Weir. She’s our leader, which I’m guessing she doesn’t remember.”

“She vaguely remembers a Wraith deal and then waking up in a desert,” Ronon explained, lowering his weapon.

“Yeah, we met the Wraith in question, he gave us this.” He dug into his pocket for the tracker device and showed the guy. “I’m John Sheppard, by the way.” 

“Ronon,” he said shortly. Turning back to the fire and moving around to Elizabeth. It was a second before John realised Elizabeth’s knife had vanished, a moment more to realise the quiet exchange between them was a little more intimate than he was comfortable with. Something started to beeped and before John could even think to ask, Ronon and Elizabeth were quickly gathering their things.

“What is that?” Miller asked.

“Wraith warning device,” Elizabeth said.

“You’re gonna run from a couple of Wraith with us here?” Parker asked.

“We’ve been off the radar for almost a week,” she said. “Every trainee Wraith in the area will be heading here. First ones just arrived.” She stepped past them and vanished into the forest. John had to double take that she’d managed to disappear so quickly and creased his brows at just when a diplomat would learn to do that.

“Keep up,” Ronon said, stopping beside him. “Or we’ll leave you here.” John barely had time to turn before Ronon had vanished too.

“Alright, let’s get to the gate before they do actually leave us and we have to start chasing Elizabeth again.”

When John and his team made it to the gate, dodging the Wraith darts and keeping a distance from any shouts and gun fire, the wormhole was open waiting for them. He stared at it for a moment, wondering who had dialled it.

“Is that in or out?” Parker asked. John just shook his head in way of an answer. He had no idea. John looked around slightly, listening to the noises of the forest and wondering where Elizabeth and Ronon were, they could have dialled and gone through already and they’d never know.

“Holy crap on a cracker,” John spat as he jumped and swung around to face Elizabeth. She’d managed to sneak up right behind him and tap his shoulder without making a single sound.

“It’s incoming, you need to keep moving or the Wraith will catch you. We check back for the shutdown point and dial out quick.”

“Why don’t the Wraith just wait here for you?” Miller asked. “Seems wiser to just stand here and wait for you to need the gate.”

“These Wraith are trying to prove themselves in the field, show their trainers that they are capable of following, capturing or killing a human. Using their brains and standing still aren’t things they’re taught,” Elizabeth said, watching the device in her hand. “If you scatter and avoid being near either Ronon and myself, you can avoid the Wraith all together.” With that, she turned and vanished back into the trees.

A second later, as John was about to scatter his men, he heard a noise, a bird call that didn’t sound quite right. A fluttering of birds escaped into the sky overhead and as John dropped his eyes he caught sight of Ronon up in a tree a distance away. Another sound behind him told him Elizabeth and this stranger had learned to work together in some pretty strange circumstances and he had to admit, his men could use some of these tactics.

Rustling leaves to the left turned John and he watched a young Wraith, no more than 13 stumbled out into the clearing. His weapon was ready and just as John raised his, Ronon shot him. The gate behind him shut down a split second later and John moved to the DHD and started dialling fast.

“Where are you taking us?” Ronon demanded, he hadn’t been nearly as quiet as Elizabeth in his approach. John didn’t reply, but watched Elizabeth heading his way from the corner of his eye as he continued to dial. Ronon seized his wrist to stop him and John swung around.

“Ronon,” Elizabeth scolded, her usual demanding tone a sweat sound to his ears.

“These people claim they know you, but you don’t know them. They could be lying to us. I’m not trusting your safety to them until I have proof.”

Another Wraith appeared behind Ronon and Miller and Parker opened fire before anything else could be said or done. Silence fell a minute later and Elizabeth stepped forward.

“These are the only connection I have right now. Either we trust them until they prove false or I will never know who I am.”

“I was taking you to a world the Wraith can’t get to,” John put in.

“There is no such world,” Ronon spat.

“Okay, true, but these guys have a shield that the Wraith can’t get through with their weapons and ships,” John explained. Ronon just stared at him, obviously trying to work out if he could be trusted. Before he could decide, the gate started to dial in and Ronon twisted John back to the DHD and gave him an encouraging shove in the right direction. He finished a second before the last chevron lit up and they ran through the gate leaving Ronon to cover them.

\---

Elizabeth ignored the meet and greet going on behind her as John and his team moved away. She could also feel eyes on her back as she kept hers on the Stargate. Ronon was never this far behind her and it was starting to nag at her senses that he hadn’t come through yet. She’d followed Miller and the other two men through and John had followed her, leaving Ronon behind.

“Come on,” she breathed, taking a step forward as the gate flickered. She took another step as Ronon staggered out the event horizon and almost tripped his way down the few steps to the ground. He met her eyes before dropped to his knees and crumbled to the ground.

Elizabeth dropped to the ground beside him, pulling his ripped sack and his sword to the side and had to bite her lip to avoid whimpering at the slash across his back. John was shouting orders behind her as she tried to wake Ronon, but nothing he said sank in. He had to grab her shoulder and force her to face him before she’d focus on his words.

“We need to move him,” John said, as someone dialed the gate. “If we stay here, we’re still vulnerable to the Wraith, we need to move a couple of miles away from the gate into the shield so the trackers stop working. She turned back as two of his men and several of the locals lifted Ronon off the ground. She almost protested, but John dragged her up to her feet before she could get any words out.

They stopped by a lake almost an hour later and set Ronon down. She was confused by the reason to stop, there was no village or settlement of any kind here, no one who could help him and deal with the cut. One of John’s men moved in quickly, moving a bandage she hadn’t seen him apply and cleaning the wound.

“Why have we stopped here?” she asked.

“We’re just inside the shield’s protection, any Wraith who get this close to us will only be able to fight us hand to hand.” She nodded dumbly. “Also, when Miller returns with Carson they’ll be able to set the Jumper down just over the ridge and walk to us.” The name Carson rang several bells in Elizabeth’s head and she instantly associated those bells with the tracking device in her back.

“Doctor Beckett,” she whispered.

“Yeah,” John said. “Chief of medicine on Atlantis.” Her frown returned. “You really are only getting bits and pieces of this, aren’t you?” Elizabeth just nodded. She followed him as he moved back to the team. “How’s it looking?” he asked.

“Not good, sir,” Parker replied. “It’ll need stitching and I can’t tell if there’s any internal damage, but I’ve slowed the bleeding down at least.”

“It shouldn’t have taken them this long,” John said, turning and raising an arm instantly. Elizabeth followed his finger to the ship curving to one side and slowly lowering to the ground just out of sight. As she turned back to John she remembered a discussion about naming the ship. Gate Ship rang out in her head but she knew it was wrong.

Carson with two medics rounded the corner behind Miller a few moments later and she tried to figure out which of the new faces was meant to be the chief of medicine. She figured it out quickly as he took charge, giving orders to his medics and getting info from John and Parker.

She took a step back and dropped down onto a small fallen tree trunk feeling confused and beyond useless. Names were more familiar than faces and the harder she tried the more confused she became. Her instincts were telling her she knew these people, that she could trust them, but a failing memory made it hard to trust her instincts and without Ronon, she felt completely lost and utterly exposed. She leaned forward, hugging herself as she rested her arms on her legs and stared at the ground. A tug on her sleeve made her turn to look at a young girl.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Elizabeth said honestly. The girl rocked back to look at Ronon before turning back to Elizabeth.

“Do you have any chocolate?”

Elizabeth felt the confusion cross her face before John appeared and handed her a wrapped object she guessed was chocolate. The girl took off and two boys followed her quickly.

“Cleo,” John said, indicating the girl. “She beats McKay up for treats whenever he’s here. I love watching it.” He grinned at the thought, but she couldn’t find the amusement in it and looked away instead. John settled down beside her and ripped open another packet. “Look, the memories are obviously still there,” he said, offering her the bar. She took it cautiously. “It’s a banana flavoured protein bar,” he said before pulling another out of the pocket. “You remembered Carson’s last name,” he pointed out. “So the memories are there, we just have to work out what’s stopping them.”

“You don’t get much of a chance to think, when you’re running for your life,” she said sardonically.

“You aren’t running anymore,” John said, sounding more sure than she’d felt since this started. “Carson’s gonna take...” he waved a hand in Ronon’s direction. “The big guys tracking device out now.”

“Ronon.”

“Okay. Once he’s done with Ronon, he’ll take yours out and we can all go back to Atlantis and figure out what’s going on with your memories.”

“Okay.” She nodded but couldn’t fell as sure or safe as he tried to imply.

“Hey,” he said, putting a hand on her arm and making her jump slightly. “We’re not here to hurt you or trick you. We want you back on Atlantis where you belong. Safe.” She studied his face for a moment and then nodded, feeling a little more relaxed this time. “You’ll wanna eat that, the kids on this world are everywhere and they're quick, that’ll have it out the wrapper before you can blink.”

She smiled at the idea and looked down at the banana bar in her hand, wishing it didn’t look like a bad thing. Sighing, she took a bit and looked back over at the surgery going on by the lake.

\---

It was another hour and a half before Carson moved away from Ronon and started to prepare for her surgery. He’d offered to knock her out for it, but she’d refused. At the time it seemed reasonable to just take a local anesthetic to be able to stay awake and alert while Ronon couldn’t be. But as he started the first incision she started to wish she’d gone for the first option. Where he was working itched badly enough to begin hurting and to top it off, she couldn’t do anything with her left arm in case her back blade moved too close to the wound.

When it was finally over, she sat up feeling dizzy and had to take a few minutes to breathe before she could move. She watched them gather their things and move Ronon to a stretcher before she turned to John with a questioning look.

“We’re not leaving you here,” he said pointedly.

“John, I...”

“Belong on Atlantis, whether or not you remember it,” he interrupted. She quirked a brow at him, the first real bit of proof that he knew her and he knew her well enough to know what she was about to say. It took her off guard for a moment. “We’re not gonna leave him here,” he said making her raise the other brow in wonder of his mind reading ability. “We’re not gonna kick him out either, if he wants to stay and help us, then he can. You’re the only one who can force him out.”

Elizabeth nodded and followed the team around to the jumper. She sat quietly in the back, wondering if she’d ever remember all the people who were helping them and listening to the familiar hum of the jumper in flight. She settled back against the wall, relaxing and allowing herself a moment to close her eyes. She didn’t see the wormhole open or the jumper slip through as sleep took her.


End file.
